Re: THE ULTIMATE PEDAL BOARD!!!
It's not that stomp boxes are necessarily superior, it's that there's a lot of them, with tones & nuances that can be hard to duplicate. Most of the bands I listen to are content with a good sounding amp & a few pedals. From my (limited) perspective, I'm not seeing a demand for multi-effects pedals, let alone pricey ones.
That is true to a certain extent. I freely admit that there are far more stomp boxes out there than one can ever hope to be emulated digitally. I wonder, though, how many people are going to hear a difference between a high-end stomp box and a high-end multi-fx. Will a live audience be able to tell the difference between, say, whether I use a Roland Dimension D* or a digital modelling of one? Will I be able to tell? In both cases I landed firmly on no.
I would say that people who are content with "a good sounding amp & a few pedals", that is, who are not hunting very particular effect tones, are the ones who might have the most to gain from getting a quality multi-fx processor. It isn't that those tones are superior, but by now I would claim that they are not inferior either, and to me they seem enormously convenient to set up and use. It also allows for setting up effects in the fx loop without the hassles of using pedals – and I am sure than many a rig would benefit from this.
That being said, I can see some instances where pedals would still be needed. Overdrives and distortions often leave something to be desired even today, and the G-System quite simply did away with them. Such systems also will often place most effects in the loop by design. That is, strictly speaking, a "better" sound, but I can see many instances where one might want to have something like a phaser coloured by the preamp. Then there are effects that still aren't available in other formats. I think there are fewer of these than most would think, once one takes a look in the proverbial mirror and tries to see them for what they are, but they are out there.
On the other hand, I see absolutely no appeal in trying to run a stomp box rig where I need small (and prone-to-failure) patch cables between separate boxes, and three long cables to not only get effect loop effects in front of you but to split the signal for stereo or w/d/w use.
In the end, everybody should use what is convenient for them, but know why they are doing it. At the moment stomp boxes are very popular, and in my opinion for the wrong reasons.
*: This is admittedly a rack effect and not a stomp box, but it is basically the most advanced and exquisite sound I'd use in my rig, and has been chosen for illustrative purposes.
